Aluminum Model Toys
Aluminum Model Toys (AMT) was the original producer of ''Star Trek'' model kits, acquiring the license in shortly after the premiere of the original series. History The 1966 deal was brokered between Gene Roddenberry and Stephen Edward Poe, an employee of an advertisement firm who at the time was hired as a consultant by AMT for marketing and communications purposes. Michigan based AMT started out in 1948 as a manufacturer of model cars and trucks, both as model kits and display pieces for marketing purposes, model kits becoming the core business during the mid-sixties. The Star Trek model kits from 1966 onwards, became the first branching out of the product line beyond automobiles. AMT ended its existence as an independent company in 1977 when it was acquired by Lesney Products, owner of , and in 1981 by die cast toy and model kit manufacturer Ertl Company resulting in the brand AMT/Ertl. A quarter of a century as AMT/Ertl came to an end in , shortly after the release of the last new model kits, as the company was acquired by Racing Champions ( or RC2 Corporation as it is currently called}, a larger die-cast company which also bought Playing Mantis, the parent company of Polar Lights, Johnny Lightning and Memory Lane. The combined company was then known as Racing Champions/ERTL. However, the holding company redefined its mission in 2003 and AMT/Ertl was split up in its original components. AMT, not being part of the newly defined parent company's identity, was sold in 2007 to its current owner Round 2 LLC. ''Star Trek'' association AMT was given the rights in 1966 to produce models based on the show in exchange for helping out CBS Studios with the construction of set pieces when needed. Stephen Poe was instrumental in brokering the deal, who was also was given free access to the studio lot which eventually resulted in the book The Making of Star Trek. Through their subsidiary at the time, Custom & Speed Shop, headed by Gene Winfield, AMT was called upon to construct the studio model of the Galileo Class F shuttlecraft as well as the full scale exterior mock-up. Also produced at the Speedshop was the studio model of the Klingon , which originated from the desire of AMT to do a follow-up of the very successful model kit - over a million copies sold at that time according to Matt Jefferies (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 9, p.66). Specifically designed for AMT by Jefferies, one of the two "master tooling models" (templates for the molds from which the production model kits were to be cast) fabricated, was immediately appropriated by the studio (struggling at the time with severe budget cuts) for use as filming model in the third season of Star Trek: The Original Series, betraying its origin as a master for a model kit by not having internal lighting. The company further released versions of Romulan Bird-of-Prey, a model of Spock, the Galileo shuttlecraft, a standard exploration set (communicator, phaser, and tricorder), the bridge, and Deep Space Station K-7, even after the series was canceled in . During the period 1966-1972, AMT chose not to license the Star Trek name outside of the US. During that period, Aurora, another noted model kit company, leased AMT's molds and released the models outside of the US. Though the molds were the same and even the packaging was, besides the imprint, virtually identical, legally, Aurora's releases of the four models were not associated with AMT. The Spock figure kit originated from Aurora but a reciprocal leasing agreement gave AMT the exclusive rights to release the figure in the US. AMT bought the Spock figure's tooling from Aurora in 1976. The company retained the license through the 1970s, and, at the time owned by Lesney (1977-1981), eventually produced kits for . In , the company was bought by Ertl, becoming AMT/Ertl, and began expanding their Star Trek line with kits based on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine models followed in the 1990s, as well as more ships from the subsequent eight motion pictures. The company did not acquire the license for Star Trek: Voyager, which went to Revell-Monogram. The last new kits were released by . Later that year the company was acquired by Racing Champions. Releases of Star Trek model kits went dormant as the new parent company was trying to decide in what direction it would evolve. A half hearted attempt to revive the line occurred when re-releases were announced, of which only four were marketed in 2005 under its original brand "AMT/Ertl", though the company by that time was already split up in its two original components. Those four kits were the only releases of the AMT line that were marketed in eight years. However, in 2007, AMT changed hands yet again, this time acquired by Round 2 under whose ownership AMT (sporting the original imprint of AMT) started the run of re-releases in 2008 with a commemorative edition of its very first Enterprise model kit. ''Star Trek'' releases Trivia *The as seen in is an AMT model kit, nr. S921, appropriately battle-damaged. The ship was given the registry NCC-1017, mostly because it was simple to rearrange the model's decal sheet and was the first time the reciprocal arrangement between AMT and the studio panned out in one of AMT's model kits showing up on screen. * The as seen in was another AMT kit, seen in Lurry's office window and orbiting the far side of Deep Space Station K-7. *In 1974 AMT included a Interplanetary U.F.O. Mystery Ship into the Star Trek line, thereby suggesting that the design was part of the Star Trek universe, though it was not, its combined advertising on the box sides, pamphlets and catalogues of the time notwithstanding. It did have however, had some behind-the-scenes connections. First off, the U.F.O. Mystery Ship was originally designed as the Leif Ericson by Matt Jefferies for an abandoned Sci-Fi project named, "Strategic Space Command."http://www.projectrho.com/SSC/model.html#merrillblueprints. AMT's idea behind the project was, buoyed by the success of their first Star Trek model kits, to release a series of Sci-Fi kits accompanied by a worked-out "mini" background story and eventually create a Strategic Space Command universe, beefed out with an accompanying line of model kits http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/lestory.htm. AMT hired Jefferies of USS Enterprise fame, to design the Leif Ericson, with the forward bridge module having more tha a passing resemblance of the conning tower of the SS Botany Bay, and eventually released it in 1968 as model kit S954. Secondly, according to Michael Okuda the design, being a Jefferies design, was seriously considered to be part of the Star Trek universe, though that never came to fruition. The original kit was considered a commercial failure and the project fell apart. In a ploy to recuperate their investments, AMT re-released the model kit twice, now designated Interplanetary U.F.O. Mystery Ship, molded in fluorescent plastic (to achieve a glowing-in-the-dark effect), and was trying to marry the ship into the Star Trek franchise through combined advertising, though it would never appear there. The re-releases were timed to coincide with the airing of the Star Trek: The Animated Series, where the design was briefly considered to make an appearance, already showing up in several preliminary story boards http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/leif_ericson_model.htmhttp://frank.bol.ucla.edu/le.html. Still, AMT's latest owner, Round 2 LLC, opted to re-release the 1975-issue in 2009 as a retro edition. * AMT/Ertl models often appeared as set dressings during the first few seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, including the ''Enterprise''-A and an appraisal prototype of the itself. * Rick Sternbach and Andrew Probert created the NCC-7100 study model from two Enterprise-A kits and various other parts. * AMT/Ertl models were used for several "kitbashed" starships from TNG and DS9. Parts from the Enterprise-D models were incorporated into the wrecked ships seen in and the study model seen in and . Many background ships seen during the Dominion War saga used parts from AMT/Ertl and Revell-Monogram model kits, specifically the Enterprise-A, the , the , the runabout, the Maquis raider and the most notably in the episode . * The AMT model of the original Enterprise was released many times over nearly thirty years. One of these models was built by future producer Ronald D. Moore when he was young. It ended up as a set decoration in James T. Kirk's crew quarters during . * Parts of AMT model kits were sometimes used by Visual Effects houses to embellish their professional studio models. An early example is the use of a warp nacelle from the Romulan warbird model kit used as a feature underneath Industrial Light & Magic's SD-103 type studio model in The Undiscovered Country. http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/scans/fedshuttles2.htm *On the occasion of the 30th Anniversary AMT/Ertl commissioned the production of two cutaway posters of the and and inserted those in their 1995-1996 model kit issues as a bonus. Which one was included was indicated by a sticker on the packaging. The artwork was done by C. Bruce Morser. * A medical device used by Julian Bashir in was an other warp nacelle from the Romulan warbird model kit. Coincidentally, the Romulans were the main adversaries in the episode. * Most of the gold models in the display cases in the conference lounge, featured in and were gold plated, resin-reinforced AMT/Ertl models, built by John Eaves. * Set decorator James Mees used a colorfully repainted Hallmark "Keepsake" USS Voyager and a Klingon Bird-of-Prey for Miral Paris' baby crib mobile in . The mobile's Klingon D7 class battle cruiser was made from a small plastic model from the AMT Star Trek 3-Piece Space Ship Set. See also *Aurora Plastics Corporation *Polar Lights External links *A History of the AMT Enterprise Model by Jay Chladek at culttvman2.com *[http://www.round2models.com/models/amt Current AMT Star Trek lineup] * Category:Collectibles Category:Game companies